It goes without saying that No. 15-ranked Utah is motivated to beat Oregon.

A win against the Ducks is vital for the Utes’ Pac-12 South title hopes. If Utah wins, and Colorado beats No. 23-ranked Washington State, the two will face off in the final week to decide who will represent the South in the Pac-12 Championship.

Following a 52-27 loss against Stanford, the Ducks are limping to the finish of their disappointing season. Oregon has only two games left, both of which are on the road, where the Ducks have failed to win a single game.

Here’s how Oregon and Utah stack up.

Oregon offense vs. Utah defense

The most interesting aspect of this matchup is between Oregon’s running backs and Utah’s defensive line. While Oregon is ranked second in the Pac-12 in rushing offense, Utah is ranked second in rushing defense. The Utes’ pass rush is particularly adept, and the Utes rank first in the Pac-12 in sacks. While only two of Oregon’s players, linebacker Troy Dye and defensive lineman Justin Hollins, have two or more sacks, four of Utah’s defensive linemen have two or more, led by Hunter Dimick with 12 for 64 yards.

Royce Freeman is Oregon’s top running back, racking up 765 yards for nine touchdowns. Of late, Freeman hasn’t been as productive as he was in past years, battlling a leg injury early in the season. When he returned for the Washington State game, he racked up three touchdowns and then he delivered one of his best performances of the year last Saturday when he ran for 111 yards on 20 carries against Stanford.

While Utah’s rushing defense is strong, its No. 6-ranked passing defense is a weak point that Oregon should exploit using wide receivers Darren Carrington and Charles Nelson and tight ends Pharaoh Brown and Johnny Mundt. Carrington and Nelson lead the team in receiving yards with 501 and 493 yards, respectively, and Brown leads the team in receiving touchdowns with five.

Utah offense vs. Oregon defense

Similar to Oregon, Utah’s offense relies more on its ability to run the ball rather than pass it. Ranked third in rushing offense, Utah’s stable of running backs have tallied 2,129 yards for 22 touchdowns. However, the Utes have also been plagued by injuries: Four Utah running backs have missed time with injuries this year, and Joe Williams came out of mid-season retirement and now leads the team with 939 yards and eight touchdowns. The 23-year-old had decided to briefly retire earlier this season when he thought his body couldn’t handle another year of football but was asked back to the team later in the year and has thrived since returning.

Oregon most likely won’t be able to shut down Utah’s running game, but the secondary might be able to stop the pass. Though Oregon ranks second to last in the Pac-12 in both aspects of defensive play, Utah is only ranked 7th in passing offense and pass efficiency. Quarterback Troy Williams has thrown for 2,184 yards and 13 touchdowns with five interceptions.

Brenden Schooler leads Oregon’s defense with four interceptions, though only five other members of the Ducks’ defense have tallied even one, including Tyree Robinson. Robinson also has the second-most pass breakups on the team with six, following Arrion Springs with 10.

Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03

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The matchup between Oregon and Colorado on Thursday ended in tears.

Not unhappy tears, but rather bittersweet ones.

During Oregon’s senior night at Matt Knight Arena, libero Amanda Benson and middle blocker Kacy Nady celebrated their final year as Oregon Ducks. After the game, their teammates thanked them through a video projected on the massive screen, prompting them to smile through tears they furiously wiped.

“This volleyball program has been the biggest part of my life,” Nady said. “I started playing volleyball really late so I am more than blessed to be playing here.”

For someone that only began playing volleyball as a junior in high school, Nady is a vital member of Oregon’s block. She tallied seven of Oregon’s 16 total blocks to lead the team and five kills.

When asked whether she felt it was important for her to contribute, particularly tonight, she replied, “Of course it’s important. I try to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Benson also helped lead the team’s defense. She tallied 28 digs, after becoming just the second Duck in history to pass 2,000 digs earlier this year.

Despite the team’s desire to give the seniors a good send off, during the first two sets, Oregon looked much like they had in the loss to Utah the day before. Even though the Ducks won the first set 25-21, they were particularly error-prone near the end of the second set and finished with with seven attack errors and two blocking errors. Too many attacks went out of bounds that shouldn’t have. Three times in the set, Colorado tied the set off an Oregon error.

“It’s about our serving right now,” Oregon coach Jim Moore said. “Missed serves are not free throws, so you’ve got to attack serving.”

Luckily for the Ducks, Colorado just couldn’t return Oregon’s attacks. To Oregon’s 19 assists and 18 digs, Colorado had only 13 assists and 11 digs.

It was the second set when Oregon really fell apart.

A eight point streak that featured six kills, two brutal blocks and a service ace forced Oregon to use up two timeouts and allowed Colorado to get up to an early 15-3 lead.

The streak was finally broken up by a kill from outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide, who finished with 20 kills to lead the team, but the damage was done. Oregon tried to fight back with little success as Colorado got the 25-20 win.

Oregon didn’t want to give up easily, though. During the third set, Moore opted to switch Taylor Agost to the outside and Stone to the right to compensate for Jolie Rasmussen’s absence. Rasmussen typically holds the outside position, while Stone occupies the middle.

“That helped significantly,” Moore said. “We just moved Ronika because we didn’t want to move two pieces so we wanted to leave Taylor where she was. … but it was much better to move the two pieces.”

After trailing for the first half of the set, a four point streak propelled the Ducks to take a 11-9 lead that they refused to relinquish. A service ace supplied by Vander Weide gave Oregon the 25-20 win.

“I felt like the team was playing for us,” Nady said about the game’s change of pace.

The fourth set played out much like the second set, except it was Oregon that established an early lead. The Ducks went on their own impressive streak, yielding eight points for an 11-3 lead.

But, unlike the Ducks, Colorado wasn’t able to recover from Oregon’s early onslaught. The Ducks continued stringing points together, going on two multi-point streaks, one that yielded four points and one for five.

Now, Oregon will have to face three tough opponents in a row: UCLA, USC and Stanford. The games against USC and UCLA will be on the road, where the Ducks remain undefeated.

“We’re going to take all three days off,” Moore said. “It’s more a mental break than a physical break. We just kind of need it to regroup and recover.”

Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03

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The matchup between Oregon and Colorado on Thursday ended in tears.

Not unhappy tears, but rather bittersweet ones.

During Oregon’s senior night at Matt Knight Arena, libero Amanda Benson and middle blocker Kacy Nady celebrated their final year as Oregon Ducks. After the game, their teammates thanked them through a video projected on the massive screen, prompting them to smile through tears they furiously wiped.

“This volleyball program has been the biggest part of my life,” Nady said. “I started playing volleyball really late so I am more than blessed to be playing here.”

For someone that only began playing volleyball as a junior in high school, Nady is a vital member of Oregon’s block. She tallied five kills and a team-leading seven of Oregon’s 16 total blocks.

When asked whether she felt it was important for her to contribute, particularly tonight, she replied, “Of course it’s important. I try to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Benson also helped lead the team’s defense. She tallied 28 digs, after becoming just the second Duck in history to pass 2,000 digs earlier this year.

Despite the team’s desire to give the seniors a good send-off, during the first two sets, Oregon looked much like it did in the loss to Utah the day before. Even though the Ducks won the first set 25-21, they were particularly error-prone near the end of the second set and finished with with seven attack errors and two blocking errors. Too many attacks went out of bounds that shouldn’t have. Three times in the set, Colorado tied the set off an Oregon error.

“It’s about our serving right now,” Oregon coach Jim Moore said. “Missed serves are not free throws, so you’ve got to attack serving.”

Luckily for the Ducks, Colorado just couldn’t return Oregon’s attacks. Colorado had only 13 assists and 11 digs to Oregon’s 19 assists and 18 digs.

It was the second set when Oregon really fell apart.

An eight-point streak that featured six kills, two brutal blocks and a service ace forced Oregon to use two timeouts and allowed Colorado to build an early 15-3 lead.

The streak was finally broken up by a kill from outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide, who finished with 20 kills to lead the team, but the damage was done. Oregon tried to fight back with little success as Colorado got the 25-20 win.

Oregon didn’t give up easily, though. During the third set, Moore opted to switch Taylor Agost to the outside and Stone to the right to compensate for Jolie Rasmussen’s absence. Rasmussen typically holds the outside position, while Stone occupies the middle.

“That helped significantly,” Moore said. “We just moved Ronika because we didn’t want to move two pieces so we wanted to leave Taylor where she was. … but it was much better to move the two pieces.”

After trailing for the first half of the set, a four-point streak propelled the Ducks to a 11-9 lead that they refused to relinquish. A service ace supplied by Vander Weide gave Oregon the 25-20 win.

“I felt like the team was playing for us,” Nady said about the game’s change of pace.

The fourth set played out much like the second set, except it was Oregon that established an early lead. The Ducks went on their own impressive streak, yielding eight points for an 11-3 lead.

Unlike the Ducks, Colorado wasn’t able to recover from Oregon’s early onslaught. The Ducks continued stringing points together, going on streaks of four and five points.

Now, Oregon will have to face three tough opponents in a row: UCLA, USC and Stanford. The games against USC and UCLA will be on the road, where the Ducks remain undefeated.

“We’re going to take all three days off,” Moore said. “It’s more a mental break than a physical break. We just kind of need it to regroup and recover.”

Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03

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In recent years, Oregon and Stanford have sustained a brutal rivalry, both competing for the top spot in the Pac-12 North. In the past, their match-ups have determined which of them would represent the North in the Pac-12 Championship.

Yet, this year, their showdown won’t come with the same anticipation. Neither team has met pre-season expectations and won’t be playing in that championship game, Stanford dropping to third and Oregon to second to last in the Pac-12 North.

Despite snapping a five-game losing streak after defeating ASU the week prior, last week the Ducks suffered an embarrassing 45-20 loss to USC. Stanford, on the other hand, has won its last two games, though they were against Arizona and Oregon State.

Here’s how the teams stack-up:

Oregon offense vs. Stanford defense

Oregon has long been an offensive power, ranking first in total offense in the Pac-12 since 2010 when the conference was established. This year has been shaky as the Ducks are currently only ranked fourth. Some of that shakiness has been alleviated after the emergence of true freshman quarterback Justin Herbert. He started the last three games, and has thrown for 12 touchdowns and 926 yards, which ties the Oregon record for touchdown passes in a three-game stretch. His performance boosts the Duck’s passing game, which was previously lacking. In passing offense, Oregon is ranked 7th, compared to its No. 2 ranking in rushing offense, with a total of 2372 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Stanford, however, is solid at all aspects of their defensive game, ranking third in total defense, fourth in passing defense and fifth in rushing defense. The reason for this is that Stanford’s defense is much deeper than Oregon’s. Against Arizona, ten Cardinals had at least 3 tackles, and against OSU, 14 different players tallied two or more tackles.

If Oregon’s deep field of running backs, featuring Royce Freeman and Tony Brooks-James, is able to produce like they have been, then the Ducks should be able to exploit the weaker part of Stanford’s defense. However, in the loss against USC, neither Freeman or Brooks-James were very effective. Freeman had 8 carries for 38 yards and 2 catches for 9 yards, while Brooks-James had 8 carries for 25 yards and 4 catches for 26 yards.

Stanford offense vs. Oregon defense

Stanford’s offense this season is uncharacteristically weak. Its ranked last in the Pac-12 in total defense and passing offense. Even the Cardinal’s rushing game is isn’t up to par, which is surprising given Heisman candidate Christian McCaffery leads the team (and the Pac-12) with 980 yards.

Following an unproductive game against Colorado, which the Cardinals lost 10-5, Stanford Head Coach David Shaw elected to switch quarterbacks from senior Ryan Burns to junior Keller Chryst. Since then, Stanford has won the last two games, though the offense still hasn’t improved much. In the two games Chryst has played, he has thrown a total of 164 yards for two touchdowns. He has also thrown an interception and was sacked four times.

Oregon’s defense this season is unsurprisingly weak, as it has been for the past couple of years. While Oregon is ranked last in the Pac-12 in total defense, the Ducks are also ranked second to last in both passing defense and rushing defense. Troy Dye and Brenden Schooler have been Oregon’s best players. Dye leads the team in tackles with 67 tackles (38 of which were solo) and sacks with 3.5 for 23 yards for loss. Schooler leads the team in interceptions with four.

Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03

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In recent years, Oregon and Stanford have sustained a brutal rivalry, both competing for the top spot in the Pac-12 North. In the past, their matchups have determined which team would represent the North in the Pac-12 Championship.

Yet this year, the showdown won’t come with the same anticipation. Neither team has met pre-season expectations and neither will be playing in the championship. Stanford fell to third and Oregon to second to last in the Pac-12 North.

Despite snapping a five-game losing streak after defeating ASU the week prior, last week the Ducks suffered an embarrassing 45-20 loss to USC. Stanford, on the other hand, has won its last two games, though they were against Arizona and Oregon State.

Here’s how the teams stack-up:

Oregon offense vs. Stanford defense

Oregon has long been an offensive power, ranking first in total offense in the Pac-12 since 2010 when the conference was established. This year has been shaky as the Ducks are currently only ranked fourth. Some of that shakiness has been alleviated after the emergence of true freshman quarterback Justin Herbert. He started the last three games, and has thrown for 12 touchdowns and 926 yards, which ties the Oregon record for touchdown passes in a three-game stretch. His performance boosts the Ducks’ passing game, which was previously lacking. Oregon is ranked seventh in passing offense compared to second-ranked rushing offense.

Stanford, however, is solid at all aspects of its defensive game, ranking third in total defense, fourth in passing defense and fifth in rushing defense. The reason for this is that Stanford’s defense is much deeper than Oregon’s. Against Arizona, 10 Cardinals had at least three tackles, and against OSU, 14 different players tallied two or more tackles.

If Oregon’s deep field of running backs, featuring Royce Freeman and Tony Brooks-James, is able to produce like it has been, then the Ducks should be able to exploit the weaker part of Stanford’s defense. In the loss against USC, however, neither Freeman or Brooks-James were very effective. Freeman had eight carries for 38 yards and two catches for 9 yards, while Brooks-James had eight carries for 25 yards and four catches for 26 yards.

Stanford offense vs. Oregon defense

Stanford’s offense this season is uncharacteristically weak. It’s ranked last in the Pac-12 in total defense and passing offense. Even the Cardinal’s rushing game isn’t up to par, which is surprising given Heisman candidate Christian McCaffrey leads the team and Pac-12 with 980 yards.

Following an unproductive game against Colorado that the Cardinals lost 10-5, Stanford head coach David Shaw elected to switch quarterbacks from senior Ryan Burns to junior Keller Chryst. Since then, Stanford has won the last two games, though its offense still hasn’t improved much. In the two games Chryst has played, he has thrown for a 164 yards and two touchdowns. He has also thrown an interception and was sacked four times.

Oregon’s defense this season is unsurprisingly weak, as it has been for the past couple of years. Oregon is ranked last in the Pac-12 in total defense and second to last in both passing defense and rushing defense. Troy Dye and Brenden Schooler have been Oregon’s best defensive players. Dye leads the team in tackles with 67 tackles (38 of which were solo) and sacks with 3.5 and 23 yards for loss. Schooler leads the team in interceptions with four.

Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03

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A year ago, Oregon assembled a recruiting class ranked fourth nationally, which at the time, was the highest in school history.

The 2015 group of Duck freshman featured five elite prep athletes, each ranked 54th or better on the Prepvolleyball Senior Ace list, an Oregon record.

With the help of the young athletes, led by outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide, who earned an all-Pac-12 selection during her freshman campaign, the Ducks finished the season with a 16-14 record and participated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before dropping to Wisconsin.

But after reloading with yet another loaded recruiting class from the 2016 class, Oregon hopes for a better season that will lead to a longer stay in the tournament.

Before this season, the Ducks broke the school record again, welcoming a group of players that accumulated to the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation. They were led by middle blocker Ronika Stone, Oregon’s top recruit in history at No. 10. Rounding out the class was Jolie Rasmussen (No. 20), Willow Johnson (No. 27) and Brooke Van Sickle (No. 88).

Their arrivals came with high expectations that were promptly shattered.

During the Ducks’ Pac-12 opener against Oregon State on Sep. 22, the group of freshman tallied 30 kills and only three errors between them.

After the game, when asked whether he was surprised by the freshmen’s dominating performances, Oregon head coach Jim Moore said, “Willow a little bit but man, she’s good.”

“We knew they were good,” he added.

During Johnson’s first game in an Oregon jersey, she racked up five kills and two blocks against then-ranked No. 10 Florida. She has only gotten better. In the win against ASU on Sep. 30, she hit .500, while tallying ten kills from 16 attempts.

“Willow probably is the one that’s caught us most by surprise, but boy, has it been a real pleasant surprise,” Moore said. “We sort of thought that might happen.”

In the Oregon State win, Rasmussen and Stone led the team with 11 kills each. Because of their performances, the three freshman hitters spent a lot of the game on the court.

“Every time we go up there, I yell ‘fresh meat!’” said Stone. “Once one of us gets a kill, we all get really excited for each other.”

Stone has quickly established herself as an offensive threat. After back-to-back wins against ASU and Arizona earlier in the season, Stone was named the Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Week. During that weekend, she led the team with five blocks in both games. Against Arizona, she also led the team in kills with 13 on a .625 hitting percentage.

“We knew that kid was going to play; there’s no denying it,” Moore said. “The funny thing is she hit .550 in the World Junior Championships — well she’s hitting .500 right now in conference play. She’s pretty good.”

Oregon’s offense is led by the underclassmen. Out of the Ducks’ five kill leaders, four of them are underclassmen, with junior outside hitter Taylor Agost being the exception. Vander Weide leads the team with 281 kills. She is followed by Agost with 205, while Rasmussen, Stone and Johnson make up the rest of the top five.

The Ducks offense may be so effective because the freshmen haven’t been scouted very well yet. After all, Oregon has the least amount of blocks against them in the Pac-12 with 92.0.

“[Moore] likes every one to have sets so that the other team’s defense doesn’t really know what’s going to come at them,” Vander Weide said.

With such a young team, Oregon has the potential to be a national contender for years to come. After all, as this class of freshman ages, they are only expected to get better.

After a road trip last weekend that yielded two wins against No. 11  Washington and Washington State, Oregon has won three straight matches. They are tied for first place in the Pac-12 with a 10-4 record.

“This whole class has been awesome and they made everybody feel better,” Moore said. “They are a huge part of where we are.”

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True freshman Justin Herbert has proved himself capable of leading Oregon’s offensive attack.

After five straight losses, the Ducks finally were able to squeak out a win on Saturday, defeating ASU 54-35. During the game, Herbert threw for 489 passing yards, tying Bill Musgrave’s record for the most passing yards in school history.

After practice Monday, quarterbacks coach David Yost discussed Herbert’s performance and how he has improved this season.

Everyone talks about the 489 passing yards and the school record, but what were you most impressed with after you watched the film with his performance?

It was really probably the amount of completions that he put us into. He made a lot of pre-snap decisions of where to go with the football so that he could guarantee a completion on a high percentage of his routes. And then on top of that, we still had some more that could very easily have been completed. He could have thrown a few better balls, but we had more drops in that game than probably all year. Just his ability to get us into completions, which that’s what we needed in that game.

Justin made a couple of great throws on the run in that game, how is he able to throw the ball down the field so well at such a young age?

He’s has a really nice release. It’s pretty compact for being such a tall guy with long arms. He spins it very well. Because he’s more athletic than people give him credit for, he gets his feet in a good position that he can torque and throw the ball. He throws on the run very well. We’ve done kind of our naked game with him quite a bit since he’s become the starter. And then what he’s able to do when he breaks the contain. He hit that one the other day really nice down the field. Most of the other times he’s broke the contain, he’s taken off for positive yards.

Pharaoh Brown and other guys have said that Justin has that “it-factor” to him. Have you seen that and what is that it-factor?

I mean it’s kind of what you look for in every quarterback. It’s kind of that innate ability to make plays and not get rattled. With him, his eyes are always downfield trying to make the big play without putting us in a bad position. He’s shown all those things at this point. If you ask me if he has it, I think he does.

Justin’s been able to improve in leaps and bounds from week to week, is there anything specific that you want him to work on this week?

The biggest negative we had in that last week’s game is we took a few negative plays, sacks, that we didn’t need to. Sacks are going to happen, we understand that, and then what you do is you analyze why they happen. There were two, maybe three, of those the other day that we could have gotten out of.

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With the end of the season looming ahead, the Ducks needed a win on Sunday against Arizona State after dropping a crucial match to Arizona on Friday.

Oregon came through with a clutch performance and won the match 3-1 to snap its three-match home losing streak.

“We definitely needed that,” Oregon outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide, who threw down 19 kills, said. “Obviously, it sucks losing at home. Everybody wants to win in front of their home crowd.”

Oregon won the first two sets with relative ease — the first by a score of 25-21, and the second 25-18. But the Sun Devils gave them a run for their money by winning a closely-contested third set.

Despite keeping ASU at a .051 hitting percentage in the first set, the Ducks allowed them to improve to .179 and .333 in the second and third sets. Part of that issue was Oregon’s block. Even though middle blocker Kacy Nady led the team with four blocks, three of them solo, Oregon’s suffered in the third set, as the team tallied only one block.

“We’ve got to block better,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. “They hit .333, and we can’t let them do that. I don’t know what that was. All of a sudden, we just stopped blocking.”

Simply put, Oregon was less dominant in the third set. ASU picked up a 17-13 lead after scoring three points in a row, two of which came from Oregon errors.

At times throughout the match, the Duck’s serve looked dominant. The Ducks finished with nine service aces, three of which were supplied by outside hitter Jolie Rasmussen. However, the team also finished with 11 service errors.

“I thought we kind of relaxed a little bit,” Vander Weide said. “And that’s something we need to work on, knowing that we don’t just have it and attacking all the way through.”

With the score 22-19 in favor of the Sun Devils, things were looking precarious late in the third set. The Ducks looked to Vander Weide, who already had 13 kills at this point in the match. In the last couple minutes of the set, she put down three more to help Oregon tie the score at 25-25. The teams traded points until ASU put down two kills to win the set 29-27.

“We didn’t do anything to stop them, so they kept having set point, set point, set point,” Moore said. “Eventually, they’re going to score one of them.”

Moore believes Oregon simply lost its composure but reacted well in the fourth set to ASU’s pressure. Late in the set, Willow Johnson put down two kills in a row to help Oregon  push it to match point and take  four point lead. Vander Weide once again proved her offensive prowess by scoring her final kill of the game to give Oregon the win.

“Everything was on today,” Vander Weide said. “But I think honestly my swings are all just myself fixing little things.”

On Friday, the Ducks will be heading to Washington, where they will face a No. 7 Huskies team that defeated Oregon in its previous match-up.

“We are ready to take them on again,” Vander Weide said. “We’ve been good on the road so let’s hope we continue with that.”

Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03

The Ducks secured another elite distance runner for the future on Tuesday when Reed Brown, a standout from Southlake Carroll High School, verbally committed to Oregon for next season.

Brown, a native of Southlake, Texas, a Dallas-area suburb, has already competed at Hayward Field as a prep athlete. During the 2016 U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials, which were hosted this summer at Hayward Field, Brown won the high school boy’s exhibition race. He crossed the finish line in 4 minutes and 4.73 seconds.

Before that, he ran the nation’s sixth-fastest time when he completed 5,000 meters in 14:41.6.

Thrilled to announce that I will be attending the University of Oregon next fall! #GOducks #QuackAttack 🐥 pic.twitter.com/A8zh3zbAmb

— Reed Brown (@reedbrown03) October 25, 2016

Last spring, Brown was named the Dallas Morning News’ boys track and field athlete of the year after he won the Class 6A state championships. He broke a 29-year-old Texas state record in the 3,200-meter with a time of 8:50.43.

In that same state meet, he almost broke the state 1,600-meter record of 4:03.27 when he was the runner-up with a time of 4:04.82

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It wasn’t the ending he had hoped for.

Despite being down 31-14 at halftime during Friday’s game against Cal, the Ducks and freshman quarterback Justin Herbert fought back with a strong offensive effort to force overtime.

However, just when it looked like Oregon would win its first game in more than a month, Herbert threw his first and only interception of the game on the last play of the second overtime. Cal’s Jordan Kunaszyk picked off what could have been the game-winning touchdown pass.

“I definitely thought we were in a great position to win the game,” Herbert said after the game. “I made a mistake and let the team down.”

Herbert’s self-deprecating attitude reflects the common misbelief that when a team loses, it’s all the quarterbacks’ fault. After practice Monday, Herbert discussed the type of pressure placed on a signal caller.

“A good performance can be wiped out by one bad play,” he said.

Yet he shouldn’t be reflecting this way towards his game on Friday.

Even though the game ended in heart-breaking fashion, the Ducks looked better than they had before the bye-week — especially Herbert. He completed 22-of-40 passes for 258 yards and six touchdowns, tying Oregon’s school record.

Compare that to Herbert’s performance in the blowout loss to Washington two weeks ago. Having taken over for Dakota Prukop, Herbert threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns and an interception. With each game that goes by, Herbert is adjusting to collegiate athletics and his role on the team. Because of that, he’s becoming more and more confident.

“I think there was a lot of progress from last week,” Herbert said. “It’s a step in the right direction, but definitely not the way we wanted it to end.”

Herbert was understandably inconsolable as six other Oregon players surrounded him immediately following the pick to show their support. He was asked after practice Monday what they said to him.

“They just said to keep my head up and come back and give my best this week.”

Their reaction shows that despite the Ducks’ horrendous season, they still have something to give them hope: their young quarterback.

“There’s things you got to learn from and live from,” running back Tony Brooks-James said in a post-game interview. “I still trust him with everything he gives me. Only thing to do now is look forward and move on.”

Even though Herbert threw the pass that ultimately lost Oregon the game, he showed he can be the Ducks’ quarterback of the future.

Looking forward, the Ducks on Saturday will face Arizona State, a team they have beaten for nine times in a row.

“They’re a fast, athletic team,” Herbert said. “They’re going to be putting a lot of pressure.”

Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03